Lost
by RiaKitsuneYoukai
Summary: A hand when you're falling, a song in silence, love in the dark. No matter how lost you are, how bad your life is, there is always something to reach for. -Taang-


She shut the opening with a massive slab of earth, her arms flying up past her head in vertical fists, as though hauling particularly tough weeds. Without another breath she lowered her arms and snapped them up again, creating a second thick slab of stone behind the first, making her barrior bigger; she continued, up and down, until her shoulders prickled with the effort and she remembered to breathe. When she finally let her tired arms fall (though not too far; still ready to protect herself), the wall was twice as thick as the one back home -- she couldn't feel a single vibration on the other side of the space, save for the shudders of the double-treaded tanks. She took a few steps back, almost tripping on her own ankles. She stood ten feet from her stone door, her eyes staring through it, feeling the thickness. Toph pulled one side of her bangs tightly, trying to relax her mind with the tugging, and turned to her companion.

He had pushed himself against the wall, leaning on it, his breathing raspy and dry. His palms pressed against the earth, gripping at it for stability. His neck muscles were tense, as though he was holding something large in his throat -- Aang didn't turn when she called his name.

She stepped towards him, her feet pushing into the loose dirt and shifting it this way and that. She called out to him again, but he refused to look at her, prefering to stare at the wall she had created, his gaze fuzzy, only seeing inside his mind. She put a hand against his shoulder, calling him by his real name, not the cutesy, moking nickname she had been using before. He still didn't move. Frustrated, the young earthbender grabbed his other shoulder and thrust against the first, slamming him against the wall, facing her. His head stayed down.

"Twinkles! Aang, damn you, answer me!"

One of his long arms reached up to push her away, but it stopped and fell limp overtop hers, and his long fingers grasped weakly at her shirt sleeve. She paused and concentrated on the connection between her hands and his chest -- his heart was pounding, but the beats were irregular. For fear that he would fall if she let go, Toph kept her weight against the boy's shoulders, but her voice softened slightly.

"What's wrong with you?"

His head lifted slightly, and he gripped her sleeve tighter, taking a pinch of skin along with it. His heartbeat sped, and his voice came out for the first time; "No," he said, and his tone was suddenly angry, "What's wrong with _you_?! Why didn't you help me back there? You're the only backup I have, and because you weren't there...! They _took_ him, Toph! Why didn't you help me?"

Fury rose up from her chest, from the empty hole his words were carving there. She shook him. "Me?! I was trying my best, Aang! In case you hadn't noticed, I had about twenty men and two tanks on me! You weren't helping me any then! And you think I wanted them to take Sokka?! I'd rather they had taken you! That way someone would be thinking up a plan instead of moping!" His eyes stapped up to hers, screaming with hurt. She couldn't see them.

Aang reached to pry her fingers off him, but his hands were shaking, and his breathing was so shallow it was amazing he hadn't passed out. His head fell again. He swallowed -- she could feel the scratchy movement in his throat, slow and thick like glue. Toph had never been good at apologising, unused to it, but she knew how badly her words had wounded him, and she hadn't meant it the way it came out; she relaxed her arms slightly, ready to speak, to be gentle like Katara always was, but he slipped down away from her, his legs sprawling past hers. The earthbender didn't move, but spoke carefully in no less than a loud whisper; "Aang... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You know I didn't."

He made no moves of reassurance, only folded his arms in against himself, his elbows touching and hands pulling at the skin around his arrow tattoo. His breathing came in gasps, short and brittle. Toph's face scrunched a little, and her voice weakened. She felt so lost.

"Aang?"

He pulled his knees in, near matching his arms, and the one foot without a shoe bottom curled together. He didn't move, save for the shuddering he was doing to avoid what she could assume was crying. She said his name again, quietly, scared at how he was acting. She had never seen the usually happy airbender like this, even with all the pressure of ending a war thrown on his shoulders. He answered with a small, muffled noise, and she crippled in front of him. Toph reached out and grabbed at his wrists, trying to pull them from his face. He resisted, but the fear was making him frail.

"Why are you like this?" She whispered, keeping his arms from leaving more pressure marks on his shaking face, "Twinkles, why are you... cheer up. Please."

Aang tilted his head to the side with a weak smile, and with shaking words, answered: "Have you ever had one of those completely hopeless days?"

Anger and fear both drove her palm to smack him on the forehead, then rest there, gripping at the end of the blue arrow; Toph tried to pour her small amount of courage into him. He choked again, forcing down tears. "Zuko's back with the Fire Nation..."

"Not intentionally," she defended, her energy gone, "He was taken away, Twinkles. He's a good person."

"I know." His voice cracked again, and the airbender closed his eyes when he continued. "Then Katara... went after hi--" his words broke, but he tried again, "Toph, I don't even know where she is. I'm so scared for her."

"Me too."

"I'm scared for Sokka, too. I don't know what they're... gonna do to him. Spirits, Toph, I'm so afraid...!" His arms clutched back at his head, pulling some of her fingers into his tight grasp. She cringed when she felt water hitting her wrist, the beat his heart was following.

"...I'm still here, Twinkles. I'm not going to leave you, okay? No one's going to take me away."

His face finally came to meet her, and she felt him stop breathing for a moment. "Promise?"

"Gods, yes, I promise. Now... seriously... cheer up." Her voice was still weak. Both were paused in a stalemate, and she suddenly knew what was wrong; Aang was looking for comfort, the kind he usually got from Katara. Sighing slightly, her hand fell from his forehead and looped around the back of his neck. She pulled his still shaking frame against her, and almost instantly his arms regained their strength, grabbing at her back so tightly she though she might not be able to breath. The airbender buried his eyes against her shoulder and began sobbing. Toph patted his back awkwardly.

"Don't get too clingly, Twinkles," she said softly, "I'm not good at this kind of thing."

He nodded into her, the movement pulling at the fabric of her shirt. Aang moved his face from her, and freed a hand to wipe at his red eyes, the other still gripping her back tightly, shaking with the effort. Toph let her hands drop to her lap, but lifted one to push tears from his other eye with her palm. He tried to laugh, but it came out like a sigh. "I'm so glad you're still here."

"And not leaving, remember."

He nodded again, the leaned back, glancing up at her for a moment, then to the huge cave she had trapped them in. "So... where do we go?"

"Dunno," she said, standing. "There're tunnels in this thing, so we could just follow one."

"You can't feel an exit?"

"Nope. The tunnels go a long way, Twinkles. They're all criss-crossy and the ends are fuzzy to me. We could make some new ones, but I'm not sure that'd help." She thrust out an arm and they gripped the inside of each other's elbows; she pulled the boy to his feet with a quick tug. Aang rubbed at his eye again, then surveyed the space.

"I can't see a thing. And I don't think I can firebend anything to help us." To prove his point, the Avatar lifted his still shivering palm and made it spark; the tiny flame fluttered into smoke. Toph shook her head.

"You don't have to see with your eyes, Twinkles. Have you been listening to anything I've taught you?" She turned and smacked her fingers over his eyes. Aang stepped from under her hands and moved foreward slightly, tentitively, the shifted to the side. He paused, looking confused, then pulled off his undestroyed boot. He stepped ahead a bit more, then stopped again. He turned towards her, his torso facing a good few feet from where she stood, and croaked, "I can't do it, Toph."

"Of course you can. You've been doing it for months! What's wrong?"

"I can't... focus. There's too many things in my head."

"You're letting your fear control you." She said bluntly, and it wasn't a question. The airbender didn't argue. She sighed and stepped foreward, snatching his arm and using it like a whip to put herself in front of him. She prodded his chest. "You're letting things cloud your mind. Twinkles, you keep doing this! It's the only reason you can't get back into the Avatar State, and you know it!"

"I thought you weren't listening," he chuckled softly, remembering her reaction when he had tried to explain the problem with his State.

"Stop worrying so much."

"How can I not worry, Toph? I have no idea what's happening to my family! They're in the hands of the Fire Nation -- they could be de--!" his voice caught again.

"They're not, Twinkles."

"How could you know?"

"I just do. They're strong people, and if anything, they'll live for _you_." She poked him again and turned away. "C'mon. We're finding a way out of here."

He stood on the one little pile of earth, watching her walk away as best he could in the light his eyes had collected. She counted twenty steps before the airbender moved; he shuffled foreward, his hands crunched together, unsure, trying to feel her footprints with his toes. Toph stopped to feel him move. He was so shy! So scared to take single steps into the darkness, even knowing she was there. He stopped, suddenly, and stood straight, his eyebrows pressing deeply together. "Toph?" he called out, his voice still snapping, "Toph, where are you?"

She didn't move. "Aang, what's wrong with you?"

"You're still here," he whispered, relief flooding from his words. "Toph, I can't find you."

"Use your feet, Twinkles," she called back, her tone hushed, "Just get to me, at least." She was so confused at the way he was being -- like she had never taught him anything, like he was just an infant, still learning to walk. Looking for his mother in a space too big for his mind to comprehend. Toph kept steady, feeling him shuffle towards her, his arms outstretched. He took a few steps, then pitched forward, falling on to his hands. He cried out for her again.

"I'm still here, Twinkle Toes," she assured, leading him with her voice, "Get up. I'm right here."

Unsteady yet again, Aang pushed himself to his feet and moved. He took two, three shifting steps before he came within arm's reach -- Toph put out her hand and collected his. His long, shaking fingers snatched harshly around hers, but she ignored the pounding of stopped bloodflow and kept his hand firmly.

"Good job. You did good, Aang."

She heard him sniff from behind her, and grab tighter at her hand.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, and Toph shook her head, biting her lip.

"It's fine, Twinkles. You did good."

They were going to get out of this cave. She was going to bring Aang back to the sunlight and the open space, away from the war, away from the Fire Nation, and she was going to get their family back. She was going to teach Aang how to see again, teach him to be brave. And then they'd get their family back.

She was no going to let them make him blind.

* * *

**_Author's Notes:_**

I've been having sad days lately. But after my friend witnessed someone drown, and told me about it, I realized that no matter how sad you are, how bad your life is, someone else's is always worse. Most times, instead of giving up, you just need a hand to grab on to. You just need to find the light in the dark.

Love is always brightest there.


End file.
